I graduated from UVA's 4-year undergraduate architecture program in 2023. Instead of going straight into grad school to meet the professional degree requirement for licensure, I chose to enter the workforce to determine whether I actually wanted to pursue architecture as a career before taking on the expense of additional education. Since starting my job at Westwood (formerly Balzer & Associates) almost two years ago, I've learned more from my on-the-job training than I did in the entirety of my architecture education! My learning style is best suited to hands-on, tactile experience, something that is hard to come by in academia - particularly in a virtual program, which I would require in order to continue working my current job while fulfilling the education requirement for licensure in Virginia. In my case, a professional degree is both an unnecessary expense and a limited value-add. Supplementing my job experience with hands-on trainings and field work is a more effective use of my time, money, and energy and will help me to become a well-rounded designer with real-world knowledge.